Berlusconi skips NATO ceremonies to talks to Turkey
STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi threw out the protocol rule book on Saturday, missing NATO ceremonies and failing to greet his hosts because he was so engrossed in a mobile phone call.
A source in Berlusconi's office said the Italian leader had been doing NATO business, trying to convince Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to accept the European candidate for the next head of the military alliance.
His lengthy intervention failed to achieve a breakthrough, a senior Turkish government official said.
Berlusconi was speaking intensely into his mobile phone when he arrived for the start of a second day of a NATO summit. Instead of walking up the red carpet to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel he carried on his conversation.
A bemused-looking Merkel continued to welcome other arriving leaders, shrugging her shoulders at one point.
She eventually gave up on Berlusconi and led the other dignitaries across a footbridge over the Rhine river, where French President Nicolas Sarkozy met them half-way in a choreographed reception symbolising unity within the alliance.
Berlusconi remained on the German side of the river, missing a group photograph and a minute's silence in honourof NATO soldiers killed in action. When he finally joined the other 27 heads of state and government, he appeared to explain to Merkel and Sarkozy what had delayed him for so long.
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